Smart City Business September 2023

September 2023

SMART CITIES

SMART LONDON

How London is implementing smart technology

EV CHARGING

FLEET EV CHARGING

Powering the fleet with renewable energy

PLUS: WASTE MANAGEMENT | AIR QUALITY | SECURITY

Contents

Contents Smart City Business September 2023

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06

NEWS

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SMART CITIES

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EV CHARGING

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WASTE MANAGEMENT

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AIR QUALITY

SECURITY

P ONLINE P MOBILE P FACE-TO-FACE

Business Information for Local and Central Government

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SEPTEMBER 2023 | SMART CITY BUSINESS

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News

AI

Supercomputer to be built in Bristol to drive AI innovation

EV CHARGING

Report shows how location data can help make decisions about EV chargepoints A new report by the Geospatial Commission has revealed that location data can provide the evidence base needed to support better decisions about local charging infrastructure.

The report aims to support local authorities to make decisions about where to install electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints in their areas.

The sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be phased out by 2030 and the report states that the transition to EVs will be enabled by a dependable, well-located public charging network that local authorities are ideally placed to help deliver.

The report reveals that location data can arm local authorities with evidence to rollout a public charging network that gives current and prospective EV owners the confidence to make their journeys, whether in a densely populated city or the countryside.

The report highlights that the location of charge points is as important as the number of charge points and explores the breadth of location data and applications available to support local authority decisions about where to install new chargepoints.

It also outlines opportunities to better use existing location data, as well as new sources of information to understand the location and availability of existing chargepoints by making chargepoint operator data standardised and consistent; understand consumer charging behaviour and travel patterns by using population movement data; identify the location of EVs by using commercially-held data about leased vehicles; identify existing electricity network...

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has announced that a new supercomputer is to be built in Bristol in an attempt to drive pioneering AI research and innovation in the UK. The University of Bristol will host the new AI Research Resource (AIRR), which will serve as a national facility to help researchers maximise the potential of AI and support critical work into the potential and safe use of the technology.

The new AIRR will be called Isambard-AI and is intended to vastly increase the UK’s compute capacity and therefore achieve the UK’s AI ambitions and secure its place as a world-leader in harnessing the rapidly developing technology.

The cluster will be made up of thousands of state-of-the-art graphics processing units (GPUs) and will be able to train the large language models that are at the forefront of AI research and development today.

Science, innovation and technology secretary Michelle Donelan said: “We are backing the future of British innovation, investing in a world-leading AI Research Resource in Bristol that will catalyse scientific discovery and keep the UK at the forefront of AI development.

“The Isambard-AI cluster will be one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, and will help industry experts and researchers harness the game-changing potential of AI, including through the mission-critical work of our Frontier AI Taskforce.”

Simon McIntosh-Smith, professor of high performance computing at the University...

CONTINUE READING

4 BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR THE CITIES OF THE FUTURE | www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

CONTINUE READING

Satellite data to track water pollution and carbon emissions

UK to use AI to cut carbon emissions: READ MORE

The UK Space Agency is to use satellite data services to gather information on environmental risks and how to mitigate them.

Ten projects are to use Earth observation tools, satellite tracking and data on population demographics, supported by Artificial Intelligence (AI), to produce forecasts and models.

Each project is to receive funding of up to £55,000 to begin development in September on services to produce the most up-to-date view of environmental contexts possible with available Earth observation data, including methane and nitrous oxide emissions, watercourse resilience, biodiversity changes and the infrastructure of decarbonising technologies.

Minister of state at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology George Freeman MP, said: “The great challenges of our time need bold solutions and from tackling water pollution to carbon emissions and biodiversity threats, the unique perspective that space provides can play a major role in securing the health of our planet and people.

“By backing UK innovators to make the most of modern technology including satellite data, AI, and Earth observation, we are also supporting businesses up and down our country to grow our economy while driving forward our ambition to make the UK a major player in space.”

Dr Paul Bate, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said: “The UK has a long history of expertise and innovation in Earth observation, developing satellites to collect increasingly detailed data and using that information to build services that help protect our planet...

CONTINUE READING

News

DATA

More top smart cities news stories from www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

Chancellor opens UK’s largest public EV charging hub at NEC Birmingham: READ MORE Richmond & Wandsworth to get lamppost EV charge points: READ MORE Government sets out AI Safety Summit ambitions: READ MORE ULEZ expansion rolled out: READ MORE Free cyber training for thousands of students to boost cyber workforce: READ MORE Solar car port to power EV chargepoints and council HQ: READ MORE New initiative to help councils boost onstreet EV charging: READ MORE Oxford City Council announces EV charging and hire offers: READ MORE

CONNECTIVITY

Newcastle gets digital hubs with ultra-fast wifi Seven BT Street Hub 2.0 units have been installed in Newcastle.

The hubs provide ultra-fast wifi, wayfinding information and rapid device charging.

They also offer the capability of providing free emergency calls.

BT will also be gifting free advertising to small businesses on the screens.

Michael Smy, head of street at BT said: “Street Hubs provide communities with the improved WiFi and mobile connectivity that is now such a central part of everyday life. Bringing the Hubs to Newcastle not only allows us to provide the same benefits as traditional payphones, but also offer enhanced and futureproofed technology for the future. Gifting free advertising to small businesses in the city also means we are able to play our part in supporting its economy.”

READ MORE

SEPTEMBER 2023 | SMART CITY BUSINESS

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Smart Cities

LOTI’s view of London as a Smart City Jay Saggar, London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) programme manager: data, smart cities & cyber security and Eddie Copeland, LOTI director explain some of the smart city innovation going on in London What’s a smart city?

While interpretations vary, we use the term ‘smart city’ when talking about the use of advanced technologies, particularly internet-ofthings (IoT), in public places. Common examples might include internet-connected lamp posts that measure air pollution or smart river sensors that monitor and help predict when flooding may occur.

The London context Use cases for technologies like these are clearly of interest to London, yet when it comes to explaining what London is doing, the picture is a little complicated. In part, that’s because so many different organisations are involved. The 32

boroughs and City of London each have differing levels of involvement in smart city initiatives.

This may range from projects within individual boroughs or a group of boroughs, to the GLA overseeing London’s connectivity picture or to Transport for London (TfL)’s world-renowned work on contactless payments enabling more seamless travel. Additionally, SHIFT, based out of the former Olympic Park, and DG Cities, based in Greenwich, act as test beds for new technologies.

While it is not for LOTI to dictate what all these players do, we have a firm interest in making sure that London’s initiatives collectively benefit Londoners, that we can scale good practice, and that we make the right decisions now to ensure

6 BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR THE CITIES OF THE FUTURE | www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

1 - It’s all about outcomes At LOTI, we’re interested in smart city tools and approaches to the extent that they can help deliver real-word improvements to the lives of Londoners. For example, as London adapts to more extreme weather, IoT technologies can check river levels to help predict flooding.

Given this outcomes-based focus, LOTI plays two roles. First, we work with London’s Environment, Housing and Social Care teams to ensure they’re aware of opportunities for smart city approaches to help deliver their goals.

Second, we can help triage where a smart city approach is the right one using our OutcomesDriven Methodology for Data Projects. This starts by identifying the real-world change we want to see, and then focuses on who could do something differently if they had better access to information.

To give a tangible example, in the South London Partnership (Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton), boroughs aim to predict and prevent flooding.

To do that they can get rainfall data from the Met Office data, but they need a new data source to know which gullies are blocked. Therefore they invested in sensors for those gully ways to provide the insights they need.

2 - Transparency and ethics are a must Public engagement and transparency should be designed into the entire lifecycle of a smart city service. Publishing where, how and why smart technology is being used is a basic and easy to achieve first principle for transparency. Starting with clearly defined outcomes should make it E

Public engagement and transparency should be designed into the entire lifecycle of a smart city service

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Smart Cities

Xoxo

London makes the most of the opportunities smart cities present. With that in mind, we advocate the five principles explored below.

Smart Cities

F easier to be transparent and clear when communicating ‘why’ the technology is being used.

A more holistic approach to ethics should take into account a broader engagement with residents to ensure that their views and expectations are taken into consideration. In Camden, residents have been engaged in the process of developing a data charter that covers all aspects of the council’s use of data. Similarly, Brent has set up a data ethics board comprised of experts from the public and private sector alongside residents and which provides scrutiny of council projects.

3 - We need to build the pan-London picture The fact that London local government is so fragmented poses numerous challenges.

The types of issues that smart city tools and approaches are apt to address, such as pollution, congestion and energy consumption, do not neatly confine themselves to borough boundaries. Without some coordination, there is a risk that each borough implements a completely different approach and creates new data silos. That doesn’t mean every borough has to use the same smart city tech. Rather, LOTI’s role is to encourage boroughs to ensure data they collect locally can be shared, preferably via API and according to some common data standards, so we can join up and create the panLondon picture.

Managing and mitigating these risks takes careful planning and good contract management Collaborating across boroughs is good for innovation. By coordinating and sharing lessons from their experiments, boroughs can reduce the time, cost and risk of trialling new smart city innovations. Additionally, by implementing some common standards and principles, such as aggregating non-personal data at a panLondon level, they can make London a more attractive place for innovative companies to trial their products, and enable a greater number of innovators to build useful products and services with their data. For example, consider TfL’s Unified API, which has more than 600 apps and services built on top of it due to the fact that it has a pan-London reach.

4 - Smart cities must be secure by design When deploying smart city systems we create a new and complex infrastructure that adversaries may seek to attack. Not only are

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Smart Cities

No city should feel pressured to implement new smart city tech for its own sake parts of the council’s network now situated in the street, but the systems behind the technology are often operated by a complex supply chain. Managing and mitigating these risks takes careful planning and good contract management.

Guidance is available to support project planning and service operation from various central government departments including the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), covering risk management, procurement and understanding internet-connected infrastructure in a national security context. In addition to this, local authorities should embed additional principles such as designing smart city services that avoid the collection of personal data.

5 - Let’s acknowledge that tech and data alone are rarely the whole solution Finally, LOTI has a role to play in helping boroughs avoid the mistakes we’ve seen in other areas of the digital transformation of local government movement. Namely, that it is not all

about the tech. Any new technology we deploy - and data we draw from it - will be impactful only to the extent they lead to action. We must ensure that smart cities initiatives aren’t just about installing sensors, but challenging ourselves to adapt our ways of working, our decision making and service models. In Sutton, the teams responsible for clearing gullies have changed their service model to clear drains now based on risk, not on a chronological inspection pattern. This is why LOTI doesn’t just work with technology teams, but ensures service managers, policy leads and frontline staff are all part of the conversation.

No city should feel pressured to implement new smart city tech for its own sake. It is another set of tools we can add into the mix when we aim to tackle urban challenges. Those tools need to be used with thought and care. If “smart city” is to mean anything at all, it’s about how smart we are in using all the tools and methods at our disposal to achieve outcomes that matter to Londoners. L FURTHER INFORMATION

https://loti.london/ SEPTEMBER 2023 | SMART CITY BUSINESS

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Waste Management

Cleaner and greener waste collection When it comes to waste management, many local authorities are looking for cleaner and more efficient ways to collect waste. Efficiency covers many aspects, including fuel consumption and emissions as well as how many bins can be emptied on one route. When it comes to fuel and emissions efficiency many local authorities have now made the switch to electric vehicles (EVs) Emissions One of the most obvious advantages of using EVs for bin collections is that they are cleaner and greener - they don’t have any tailpipe emissions and therefore don’t emit harmful pollutants like NOx and PM, which local and national authorities are trying to cut down on to improve air quality and reduce the impact of climate change. This is particularly important in densely populated areas with frequent collections, especially when collections are often in the morning during rush hour and when children are on the way to school.

However, it is important to note that the electricity used to power these may still come

from fossil fuels and is therefore not green or renewable. Try to ensure that you can power your EVs from clean sources. An easy way to do this is to install solar panels on the roof of the depot, or at the waste management facility – these end up paying for themselves in the long run. The trucks can then be charged overnight, ready to go again the next morning.

Operating costs As a general rule, EVs tend to have lower operating costs compared to their diesel or petrol-powered counter parts. Especially at the moment, with petrol prices so high, electric vehicles are cheaper to power. Depending on the E SEPTEMBER 2023 | SMART CITY BUSINESS

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Waste Management

F model you get, EVs can be highly energy efficient, meaning you get a better energy conversion rate compared to traditional combustion engines – again helping you with the energy costs. Another generalisation is that EVs tend to need less maintenance due to having fewer parts.

Benefits for residents One benefit that many local residents will surely be grateful for is that EVs are much quieter than traditional petrol or diesel models. The benefit of this is even greater when you consider that waste collection lorries are often out earlier in the morning and go down quiet residential streets.

Residents are also likely to be grateful for the reduced emissions and this will enhance the public image of the waste collection service and the local authority. Demonstrating a commitment to sustainability and reducing the negative impact of traditional bin lorries will be welcomed by locals.

Regulatory compliance The UK has net zero targets to achieve and local authorities must play a part in this. Using electric vehicles can make a massive difference here, by taking large polluting vehicles off the road. Cities like London have also implemented low emission zones and congestion charges and the local authority should be leading the way and setting an example in removing polluting vehicles from the roads.

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The adoption of EVs for collections is just one step in the innovation of waste management Innovation The adoption of EVs for collections is just one step in the innovation of waste management.

This can then lead to the development of more efficient collection routes, better fleet management systems and improved waste sorting and processing techniques.

It’s important to note that the benefits of using electric vehicles for bin collections may vary depending on several factors, especially when used regionally. Variations include the specific EV models used, the area they are used in and the operational practices of the waste management company. Nonetheless, transitioning to electric vehicles can play a crucial role in making waste management more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Some local authorities have been using EVs for a while now, while others have just recently started. Eastleigh Borough Council has recently introduced Hampshire’s first fleet of fully electric bin lorries. The change is part of an effort to combat air pollution and reduce carbon emissions. The new electric trucks are expected to collect between 15 and 20 tonnes of waste

Peterborough City Council has just added Usain Volt and Electric Boogaloo to their fleet

Waste Management

from around 1,100 bins every day. The lorries are able to complete their daily rounds on a single overnight charge which costs an estimated £1012. This is compared to over £100 that was being spent every day on a diesel vehicle.

Cabinet lead for environment Cllr Rupert Kyrle said: “We’re really excited as this is the first of three electric refuse vehicles to start operating in Hampshire. As a Council, our refuse collection fleet is one of our biggest sources of emissions so to start to switch from diesel refuse collection vehicles to electric is a great way to reduce our emissions. Traditional bin lorries have a low mileage but a high fuel consumption and operate every day in all our towns and villages – so this all-electric lorry is an exciting development as it’s significantly cheaper to operate and is much more environmentally friendly.”

He added: “This work is all part of the council’s Climate Emergency Action Plan, which sets out how the council will reduce carbon emissions within its own operations and help local residents, businesses and organisations to reduce their carbon footprint too. From investing in electric refuse collection vehicles, working to improve the energy efficiency within council buildings, and increasing tree planting within the borough, we are progressing a number of major projects to help reduce carbon emissions within our own work and across the borough over the coming months and years.”

Peterborough City Council has just added Usain Volt and Electric Boogaloo to their fleet.

The two new additions are Peterborough’s first ever electric refuse collection vehicles. The two 26-tonne Renault Trucks E-Tech are estimated to cut carbon emissions by more than 60 tonnes a year compared to the previous diesel vehicles.

The council has a goal of net zero by 2030, and replacing vehicles with low-carbon alternatives is one way of helping to achieve this aim.

The vehicles are expected to cover 120km a day and empty 1,300 bins and are charged overnight.

Councillor Nigel Simons, cabinet member for infrastructure, environment and climate change, said: “We are fully committed to reducing carbon emissions in everything that we do as a council and these new electric vehicles will play a key role in this. Residents may notice the new vehicles by how quiet they are. It’s fantastic to have them in our fleet and we look forward to monitoring their progress over the coming months.” L

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MAY 2023 | SMART CITY BUSINESS

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Advertisement Feature

Westminster City Council and Veolia unveil UK’s largest electric waste collection fleet - powered by the waste they collect Westminster City Council and Veolia have announced the full-scale rollout of the UK’s largest electric refuse collection fleet and Power facility (SELCHP), which uses the non recyclable waste collected from homes and businesses in Westminster to generate heat and power for the local community through the district heating scheme.

The vehicles are the next generation in electric Refuse Collection Vehicle (RCV) development and will deliver a cleaner and quieter service, powered directly by energy generated from the waste they collect.

Housed in a specially designed depot, smart charging infrastructure will ensure they are always ready to go when needed.

Introducing zero emissions Working alongside Westminster City Council, 45 new zero emission trucks have been introduced in a ground-breaking initiative that will benefit residents by reducing vehicle noise, cutting air pollution and drastically reducing the borough’s carbon emissions.

Working with Veolia, Westminster will gradually replace its entire 80-strong truck fleet, in the biggest decarbonisation programme of its kind by a UK local authority.

The new vehicles are housed at the new fully electric depot at Landmann Way, near Bermondsey. The electric vehicles charge their batteries by drawing electric power from the adjacent Veolia energy recovery facility, South East London Combined Heat

Reducing fleet emissions Veolia operates Westminster’s fleet and completes 50 million collections every year and each electric vehicle saves up to 89% CO2e compared to a diesel-powered fleet.

Veolia worked to procure, design and operate the new depot and charging infrastructure which will be capable of charging 54 vehicles simultaneously. Smart charging will allow the partnership to support the National Grid by using the vehicles as batteries to store electricity at non-peak times to maximise local resources and strengthen the Grid’s resilience.

Expanding zero emission fleet in the future Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg, Cabinet Member for City Management and Air Quality said: “The trailblazing electrification will deliver an essential service that is quieter for residents, improves air quality in central London and reduces our fleet emissions by 50 per cent, or over 2,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. This is a significant moment in the evolution of sustainable council services and we look forward to further expanding our zero-emission vehicle fleet in the future.”

The trucks, built by Dennis Eagle Ltd in Warwick, will be the mainstay of a zeroemission refuse fleet which also includes 90 electric street cleaning vehicles ranging from e-bikes to e-sweepers.L FURTHER INFORMATION

www.veolia.co.uk SEPTEMBER 2023 | SMART CITY BUSINESS

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EV Charging

An energy eco-system for fleet charging needs A project from Nottingham City Council and its partners demonstrates how bi-directional EV charging, solar and battery energy storage can intelligently manage the energy demands caused by vehicle electrification. Angie Lillistone, head of carbon reduction projects and policy at Nottingham City Council explains Nottingham City Council has installed bidirectional EV charging, solar and battery energy storage at its fleet depot, which is home to its 243-strong fleet. The innovative approach combines a range of technologies to overcome energy challenges, and could become a blueprint for how sites facing energy challenges can still transition to electric vehicles.

Angie Lillistone, head of carbon reduction projects and policy at Nottingham City Council, tells us more.

Please can you give an overview of the energy ecosystem EV charging project you have completed?

Nottingham City Council is part of the Interreg North-West Europe funded CleanMobilEnergy pilot project. The project aimed to explore

ways to reduce costs and CO2 emissions due to inefficiencies caused by the switch from traditional internal combustion engines (ICE) to electric vehicles (EV).

At our Eastcroft Depot, we created a new energy ecosystem that integrates renewable energy sources, battery storage, bi-directional vehicle charging units with 40 vehicle-to-grid (V2G) electric vehicles, and an intelligent Energy Management System (called REMove).

Renewable energy will be generated by the 138kWp solar array that has been installed at the depot. The projects will allow the City Council to capitalise on this locally generated energy through a variety of means.

Two giant batteries have also been installed at the depot which have a combined capacity of 720kWh. These batteries are made from 24 E SEPTEMBER 2023 | SMART CITY BUSINESS

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EV Charging

F recycled EV batteries which have enough life to store power but are no longer sufficient for car journeys.

The V2G vehicles will be charged by energy generated from the solar panels, stored in the stationary batteries, or from the grid at times of low demand when costs are cheaper. When the vehicles return to the depot, they will be able to discharge unused energy back to the grid at peak times.

The depot will effectively be able to isolate itself from the grid during peak periods, therefore avoiding the higher peak tariffs. This whole process will be managed by REMove, which will allow us to better balance energy demand with supply, reducing costs and carbon emissions.

Why was it decided to approach EV charging in this way and what challenges does it address?

Nottingham has an ambitious target to become the first carbon neutral city in the UK by 2028.

Transport and Energy Generation are two of the nine themes in our Carbon Neutral Action Plan. Included in our action plan is an objective to ensure that high quality infrastructure is in place to enable the transition to low emission transport.

Nottingham City Council has a growing fleet of electric vehicles. More than 50 per cent of the fleet is now EV, including 20 electric refuse collection vehicles. While cities are increasingly

installing renewable energy sources, there are challenges caused by a mismatch in energy production and consumption peaks.

The CleanMobilEnergy project has allowed the City Council to explore how we can better use local renewable energy to support the transition to electric vehicles. At the same time, we will also be able to better balance energy demand by using the electric vehicles themselves to power buildings on the depot. E

Nottingham has an ambitious target to become the first carbon neutral city in the UK by 2028

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EV Charging F It’s an innovative project involving many different organisations – what were the challenges whilst setting up the project?

The innovative nature of the project meant that in-depth technical knowledge was required to ensure the project ran smoothly. Extensive product research was also required to ensure that tender documents used for procurement had the appropriate technical specifications.

To facilitate the installation of the V2G infrastructure, we were required to install a new site incoming power supply on the high voltage network and upgrade the on-site low voltage network. This was a significant piece of work which had not been anticipated at the outset of the project. The power supply to the depot was a limiting factor in transitioning the fleet to electric vehicles, so was vital to be completed, but finances had to be reallocated to complete this upgrade.

For the battery storage system, the City Council wanted to find a UK supplier with an emphasis on ongoing maintenance and warranty. We also wanted to use a less-carbon intensive product, which is why we selected an option that used second-life batteries.

Are you realising any cost and CO2 savings yet - or what are these predicted to be?

Any cost savings are difficult to quantify, as the baseline position quantified at the start of the project has changed significantly –

Be aware of your current on-site electricity supply restrictions and consumption patterns there were no EVs in the fleet nor on-site PV generation at that time. However, savings are likely to be significant, as the system becomes operational and is continually optimised to provide the maximum savings, in ways which were not previously possible.

What advice would you give to other public sector organisations looking to set up a similar EV charging eco-system?

Ensure your initial studies are comprehensive and reflect your needs as well as your aspirations. Survey your current fleet requirements in terms of measured operating times and distances. Then look at this, in terms of charging requirements, as if all vehicles were electric. Do you need rapid charging facilities? Can you charge using off-peak electricity?

Be aware of your current on-site electricity supply restrictions and consumption patterns – would a future power upgrade be required (even if just for export for installed generation)?

Or, could site consumption be managed, using RE generation, V2G and a BESS, saving the finances required for an upgrade? L

20 BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR THE CITIES OF THE FUTURE | www.governmentbusiness.co.uk

Air Quality

Monitoring air quality in the city Cardiff has recently installed 47 air-quality monitoring stations across the city to measure pollution in the air The monitors will measure levels of Nitrogen Dioxide and Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5) and are intended to improve how Cardiff Council measures air pollution and therefore identify problems more quickly and take steps to reduce pollution.

The sensors will measure pollution 24 hours a day and the data collected will be reported on the Shared Regulatory Services website.

The sensors have been placed in the city’s four Air Quality Monitoring Areas (AQMAs) and more widely across the whole of the city as well, near areas of concern such as schools and health centres.

AQMAs have been set up in wards where the annual average of known pollutants is of concern because levels are close to or have historically breached the legal limit. These areas cover the city centre, Stephenson Court (Newport Road), Ely Bridge, and Llandaff.

Cllr Dan De’Ath, cabinet member for strategic planning and transport at Cardiff Council said: “Poor air quality is the largest environmental

risk to public health in the UK and, after smoking, the second-biggest threat to public health. There is clear evidence to show that exposure to air pollution reduces life expectancy and significantly increases the risk of dying from heart disease, strokes, respiratory diseases, lung cancer and other conditions.

“The latest study into air pollution in Cardiff shows that residents enjoyed cleaner air across the city throughout 2021 when compared with pre-pandemic figures in 2019. Although this data is encouraging, there is more work to do.

We need to continue to reduce the levels of pollutants. If we want people to be healthier, we have to encourage people to be less reliant on their cars, and to make the shift to public transport, cycling or walking. Not only will it benefit people’s health but will help the city reduce our carbon imprint as we look to combat climate change.” L FURTHER INFORMATION

For more information, click here.

SEPTEMBER 2023 | SMART CITY BUSINESS

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Security

Smart cities: challenges & security threats Michael Kolatchev, principal consultant/Rossnova Solutions (Belgium) and Lina Kolesnikova, consultant/Rossnova Solutions (Belgium) discuss the security threats facing the growing number of “smart cities” Cities are the most complex objects created by humans. Modern cities face the challenge of combining competitiveness and sustainable urban development simultaneously.

The notion of a “smart city” came into our lives in 2006. Nowadays there are more than 150 definitions of the term. The International Telecommunications Union defines “smart city” as “a sustainable city… which uses ICTs to improve people’s quality of life, make urban operations and services more efficient, and boost its competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the economic, social, environmental, and cultural needs of present and future generations”.

The growing number of urban problems pushes city authorities (not only metropolises but also medium and small cities) to look for innovative solutions to make cities resilient, sustainable and livable. In this context, the term “innovative solution” most commonly boils down to a technical solution facing a large number of people, or a technology in broad sense. That is where a smart city loaded with technical solutions to non-technical problems goes to the front.

Smart cities make use of known technologies to optimise what often already exists in other forms, but maximises the outcomes to smooth the operation. In essence, the mass of input data is analyzed in (near) real-time to adjust configuration of city control systems to achieve “best currently achievable” outcomes defined using pre-defined criteria and rules.

As one can see, a smart city essentially demands the myriad of data collection input points and devices, strong capable networks delivering collected data promptly to appropriate destination(s), and the central brain that makes use of input data to adjust the environment for its users (habitants, transport, etc.). The latter immediately implies

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that the environment (“the smart city”) is flexibly adjustable and configurable at the most detailed level possible, down to configurability of individual devices and procedures installed at any place in the city. With such an elaborate network of devices, processing capabilities and communications, the trust in data and algorithms, access control to and usage of powerful capabilities comes to be a crucial element on its own.

Risks and threats Undoubtably, smart cities aim to remediate certain risks and downplay certain threats. For example, extended surveillance, fast processing and quick response units. Meanwhile, security

Undoubtably, smart cities aim to remediate certain risks and downplay certain threats

Security

When talking about smart cities, we immediately witnessed the concerns of citizens that smart cities effectively create an environment of total surveillance and control and push towards unwelcomed intrusion into personal life. For convenience, safety and perceived shielding from today’s challenges and pressures, people are readily giving away their independence and privacy. For example, the old artistic idea of TV watching people rather than people watching TV is now absolutely feasible, with subject and object exchanging places. Enduser devices are continuously “listening” to their users and feeding this information to central systems to define the next actions or suggestions (even though, this intent is convenience and not spying as such). The notion of smart cities has settled firmly in conspiracy theories.

professionals voice concern with challenges and, paradoxically, new vulnerabilities and security threats that come with smart cities, while some old ones still persist.

Vulnerability is psychological, sociological, or physical characteristics that can leave the asset unprotected or exploitable for attack. Despite our wishes and effort, there are blind spots and defects, which could be missed during risk planning and vulnerability assessments.

We find ourselves in a situation where technologies, which have their own vulnerabilities, as no technology can be 100 per cent secure, are used by players who bring their “old” vulnerabilities to the new and more complex system, and which, in their own way E

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Security F create new vulnerabilities for the whole system. The situation is even more difficult because the new system, smart system, can become very complex and is based on the principle of interdependency.

Such data should be collected, stored and analysed properly

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Cyber security Data, information and knowledge are crucial elements of smart cities. A smart city is a hub of transformation of data into information and knowledge, further transformed to configuration adjustments and actions. We are talking here about BIG data. Such data should be collected, stored and analysed properly.

Such data includes a significant amount of sensitive information as well, therefore, its protection is crucial.

Smart city technologies could be disrupted in one or more of the following dimensions: confidentiality attack, such as a privacy breach, data loss or identity theft; integrity attack, such as device hacking for planting malware or viruses, data pollution and manipulation; availability attack, such as Denial of Service, manipulated or provoked full or partial shutdown of a system; or traceability attack, such as data manipulation aiming at hiding or generating false mis-leading traces.

Either due to an intentional (attack) or unintentional (defect or human error) event, system disruptions render part or a whole of a smart system unusable, or, worse, usable for malicious purposes, leading to undesirable outcomes.

Given there are no unlimited budgets available, security of a system, smart city in our context, will likely follow best practices which are fundamentally based on security assessments, identifying and prioritising

remediation efforts in function of risks and vulnerabilities.

New vulnerabilities Vulnerabilities would be weaknesses of various sorts in systems and technologies, integrations and processes using such systems and technologies, as well as in procedures executed by humans. Some vulnerabilities are the same as those faced by any organisation today, such as weak security, inadequate data encryption and protection overall, programming bugs or elementary human errors (even though, the latter are not specifically categorised as vulnerabilities and are largely addressed by smart cities via mass automation and digitalisation).

However, there are new vulnerabilities as well.

CIs in Europe, for example, often use old softand hardware. Such a situation creates a “bad heritage” problem, when these old technologies with their large technical debt are integrated into smart city system, a system of systems.

Smart city systems are very complex and very much interdependent. No person or organisation can say how all the things work, individually or in combination, what risks they have and how to mitigate them. Given interdependency, there is always a risk of a cascading effect in case of disruption of one of the system’s components. Building and maintaining a knowledge base in the hands

Security

Another concern is the cost of keeping infrastructure, systems and technologies, operations and personnel up-to-date and maintained of smart city architects, analysts, managers and operators, is a daunting task but shall be addressed.

Another concern is the cost of keeping infrastructure, systems and technologies, operations and personnel up-to-date and maintained. In a complex system of systems, even fully automated testing of a small patch in one of them, might be a long and effort-demanding exercise, as a correctly representative copy of a real system of systems shall be offered for best quality assurance and assessment of undesired impacts on one and all systems. With modern iterative development methods, we all know what this might lead to, provided existing and expected budgetary constraints across multiple countries. Testing might become limited in scope and depth.

Building-in redundancy in the smart city system and its components is required but will also impact testing and deployments of changes.

Smart cities have many necessary physical objects (sensors, CCTV cameras, lighting systems etc) which are produced outside of a smart city, often not even in the same region, or in another country. The pandemic has shown that disruption of supply chains could be disastrous. In times of geopolitical instability, the question of having long-term vendor-user agreements is crucial but not always reachable.

Therefore, redundancy in suppliers might be needed.

In ageing Europe, we risk the problem of the digital exclusion and/or digital illiteracy of many people, who could be targeted by organised criminal groups. Smart cities are not built and operated by themselves – people and institutions are doing so. The smart city and digital literacy rates are low not only among ordinary users but also among decision-makers and many stakeholders. Strong governance is needed as to define a sound foundation on which a smart city can be established, architected, constructed and operated in its entirety. L SEPTEMBER 2023 | SMART CITY BUSINESS

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